A robotic arm is inserted into a passage of a part to be examined. Operator instructions defining a tip motion for a tip of the robotic arm, sensor readings, and an environmental map are received. The operator instructions, the environmental map and sensor readings are applied to a previously trained machine learning model to produce control signals. The control signals to an actuator on the arm to control a movement of the robotic arm allowing the robotic arm to automatically gain traction in the passage and automatically move according to the movement.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein the robotic arm comprises a tip portion with at least one segment and a proximal portion with multiple segments, wherein selected ones of the multiple segments of the proximal portion provide traction to elevate and/or change an orientation of the tip portion without the tip portion gaining traction from the passage and without operator involvement or control.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the environmental map comprises a computer aided design (CAD) model or a dynamically changing model.
4. The system of claim 1, wherein the environmental map comprises a hybrid of a computer aided design (CAD) model and a dynamically changing model.
5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a camera.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the robotic arm is inserted into the passage at an insertion point of the engine and wherein the at least one sensor comprises a position sensor positioned at the insertion point, the position sensor determining positions of the robotic arm based upon detecting markings on the robotic arm.
7. The system of claim 1, wherein the movement comprises a sidewinding movement.
8. The system of claim 1, wherein the movement comprises a corkscrew movement.
9. The system of claim 1, wherein the movement comprises an inchworm movement.
10. The system of claim 1, wherein the actuator comprises a user interface that is configured to receive the operator instructions from an operator.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the robotic arm comprises a tip portion with at least one segment and a proximal portion with multiple segments, wherein selected ones of the multiple segments of the proximal portion provide traction to elevate and/or change an orientation of the tip portion without the tip portion gaining traction from the passage and without operator involvement or control.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the environmental map comprises a computer aided design (CAD) model or a dynamically changing model.
14. The method of claim 11, wherein the environmental map comprises a hybrid of a computer aided design (CAD) model and a dynamically changing model.
15. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one sensor comprises a camera.
16. The method of claim 11, wherein the robotic arm is inserted into the passage at an insertion point of the engine and wherein the at least one sensor comprises a position sensor positioned at the insertion point, the position sensor determining positions of the robotic arm based upon detecting markings on the robotic arm.
17. The method of claim 11, wherein the movement comprises a sidewinding movement.
18. The method of claim 11, wherein the movement comprises a corkscrew movement.
19. The method of claim 11, wherein the movement comprises an inchworm movement.
20. The method of claim 11, wherein the actuator comprises a user interface that is configured to receive the operator instructions from an operator.
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April 4, 2022
June 4, 2024
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